Ex-Iron Maiden Singer Faces Prison Sentence

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The Bruce Dickinson-led [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Iron Maiden[/lastfm] continues to rock out all over the world, while original frontman Paul Di’Anno faces a hefty prison sentence after his recent confession.

Di’Anno, whose real name is Paul Andrews, admitted to lying on his medical records to wrongly collect disability benefits, according to the UK’s Daily Mail. He claimed his back injuries debilitated him to the point of being unable to perform on stage.

The problem is, Di’Anno got himself caught. A YouTube video from 2006 depicting Di’Anno moving and jumping around on stage during a live show came to investigators’ attention, who discovered that he had sung with his solo group the whole time he claimed he was unable to perform.

He admitted to stealing over 45,000 pounds (about $72,000) from British taxpayers in the scheme. He is expected to be convicted of benefit fraud.

Since recent videos show Di’Anno standing still while singing, and he needed to walk into the courtroom with the aid of a cane, it’s undeniable that he’s having back problems. But the problem is he claimed they rendered him unable to perform, which dozens of YouTube videos like this one prove otherwise:

Iron Maiden kicked Di’Anno out of the band in 1981 due to increasing drug & alcohol problems – which Di’Anno vehemently denied – and replaced him with Bruce Dickinson. The band has since gone on to produce several heavy metal classics, and continue to sell out arenas on both sides of the world.

Seeing how Di’Anno and Iron Maiden have gone in considerably different directions in the past 30 years, the band look to have made the right decision. Di’Anno is now only left with distant memories of his time in the band.